Nominations for Iftas announced

Neil Jordan’s modern fairytale Ondine and Conor McPherson’s supernatural thriller The Eclipse, dominate the nominations for the 7th annual Irish Film and Television Awards (Ifta), which were announced in Dublin today.

The two films received a total of five nominations each including best film, best director and best script.

Alongside The Eclipse and Ondine, the five shortlisted best feature film nominees for 2010 are Margaret Corkery’s drama Eamon, Tomm Moore’s animated feature The Secret of Kells and John and Kieran Carney’s comedy Zonad.

Colin Farrell is shortlisted for best actor in a lead role for Ondine as are Darren Healy (Savage), Ciarán Hinds (The Eclipse) and Stephen Rea (Nothing Personal).

The nominees for best actress in film include Janice Byrne (Zonad), Amy Kirwan (Eamon), Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) and Jade Yourell (Happy Ever Afters).

Shortlisted for best TV entertainment programme are The All Ireland Talent Show, The Apprentice, The Savage Eye and Xposé - The Stephen Gately Tribute.

The Forgotten Irish, focussing largely on the experience of Irish women who migrated to Britain, is one of the nominees for best single TV documentary, along with Abuse of Trust: Sins of the Fathers, The House and Seamus Heaney: Out Of The Marvellous.

Academy chief executive Aine Moriarty said the strength of the nominations"reinforces the fact that Ireland has a superb resource of creative talent, despite the difficult Irish economic year and the knock-on effect to our creative industries”.

The awards ceremony will take place on February 20th at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin.